Welcome to Ponzi purgatory.
Every day, dozens of employees of swindler Bernard Madoff’s firm report to their Midtown offices. They’re still paid – but they do no work.
The phones at Madoff Securities are turned off. The few computers that remain aren’t plugged in.
“It’s pretty bad,” one employee said. “We can’t conduct any business. We basically get there at 9, hang around, and go home at 5. It’s surreal. It’s also scary, because we don’t know what’s going on.
“We’re basically just sitting around and waiting for the call that dismisses us,” he said.
The three-floor office, in the landmark Lipstick Building on Third Ave nue, is also crawling with federal investigators trying to unravel what happened.
“We’re all there trying to help the investigators as much as we can,” the employee said. “They ask us questions, we answer them as best as we can. It’s a bit tense. Most of the day, we’re just waiting to talk to them.”
While they wait, they talk to one another – and bond like never before, according to several current and ex-employees who spoke to The Post.
“Our office is like a family,” said another employee, who also wished to remain anonymous. “It was a fabulous place to work. Bernie was a great boss.”
“So now we talk a lot,” she added. “We’re closer than ever, I’d say . . . We have families, and our world just fell apart. We’re victims, too.”
The workers are still being paid in full and have not missed a paycheck. Last month, court-appointed trustee Irving Picard asked a bankruptcy judge to release $28 million in frozen assets for the administrative cost of liquidating the firm, which includes employee salaries. The money was released on Monday. Prior to that, $883,000 had been made available for salaries.
Although Madoff had about 250 employees, it’s unclear how many remain in the office and on payroll. One employee said he sees “dozens” of people every day. Top managers – including whistleblowers Andrew and Mark Madoff, Madoff’s own sons – have vanished from the office, and it’s not clear if they’re still being paid.
Picard did not respond to numerous messages requesting comment.
“We’re guessing the paychecks will stop coming in one or two weeks,” a third employee said. “We don’t know what’s going on with retirement or health care or any of that. We worked hard for decades. We believed Bernie to be a good man. Now we’re stuck. We feel very betrayed and upset.”
Employees reminisced about company picnics in Montauk and how Madoff Securities felt like a “small place.”
They remembered how Madoff would walk around the office, insisting that desks be clean. He also wanted the whole office to be black and gray – other colors weren’t allowed.
“He always wanted the shades pulled,” a former employee said. “If a shade was up, he’d pull it right down. He was quirky. Everyone liked him.”